Curling Alberta is pleased to announce that the U15, U18, and U20 divisions will now fall under the umbrella of the Alberta Curling Tour. Going forward, the Alberta Curling Tour Standings will now feature an Under-18 Division and an Under-20 Division. The Alberta Curling Tour will also host Under-15 events. The Alberta Junior Curling Tour (AJCT) has been dedicated to leading junior curling in Alberta since 2011. In that time the AJCT has had many dedicated champions in the role of chair. Since 2018, Mark Taylor has taken on the leadership role and has been instrumental in the growth of curling in the province. With Mark leading the charge, the AJCT teamed up with Curling Alberta to develop and implement the Alberta Junior Tour Ranking System (AJTRS) to determine pre-qualifying berths to Under-18 and Under-20 Provincial Championships. More recently, the AJTRS was used to determine the secondary berths to the Under-18 and Under-20 National Championships. With Mark stepping down as chair this season, Curling Alberta will add these divisions to the Alberta Curling Tour. Mark believes that now is the right time for this change;
“The AJCT has been an advocate for competitive junior curling in the province for many years, a strong voice that did not exist during the days of the Alberta Curling Federation, where the province was divided in to the three districts. With the not-so-new amalgamation in to Curling Alberta, I believe now that CA has the governance structure, funding and drive to support and grow junior curling well in to the future.”
Curling Alberta has been in discussions with many past AJCT hosts to form a schedule that best fits the Long-Term Curler Development model for every age and stage, and is still finalizing tour schedule for U15, U18, and U20 events. To ensure your event is on our schedule, please contact Jason Ginter at [email protected].
To keep in line with some training-competition-recovery ratios listed for to the Learn to Compete (U18), and Train to Compete (U21), Curling Alberta will be the following change to the U18 and U20 categories:
“For the 2023-24 season, if Curling Alberta is awarded an additional berth to the Under-18 or Under-20 National Championships, this berth will be awarded to the team that places second at the Under-18 or Under-20 Provincial Championships.”
Curling Alberta wants to ensure that all teams and coaches take a firm look at their training and competition schedules this upcoming season, and compare it to recommendations made by Curling Canada’s Long Term Curler Development model. As the Under-18 and Under-21 age categories are the first on the Competitive Pathway, competition is important, but it also important to develop technical, tactical, physical, mental, and social skills in a daily training environment.
Please find the newest update of Curling Canada’s Long-Term Curler Development Guide here
